Tuesday, November 26, 2013

A discussion of Istanbul and the
Grassroots has to begin and end with the protests around Gezi Park. What
began as peaceful protest against the logging of trees in Gezi Park has
become an existential fight for basic democratic and citizens rights in
Turkey, based on a wide coalition of organizations and citizens. What
at first seemed to be an uprising against the demolition of a park
turned into widespread urban resistance in Istanbul’s various
neighbourhoods and from there to the cities in Turkey.

Gezi Park is the culmination point of
an ever increasing self-righteous politics of the AKP and its Prime
Minister. Since 2002, urban transformation politics in Istanbul and most
other Turkish cities have aimed to systematically synchronize all land
and real estate markets, making it possible for national and
international capital to invest in land and real estate. This was made
possible by a broad set of measures including new legislation, the
foundation of new institutions directly linked to the prime minister
holding enormous powers, as well as extensive and dubious cooperation
between public and private partners. The recent changes installed by
property speculators and the state planners include gentrification and
vast displacements of people as well as the erasure of spaces of
collective memory.

The talk will focus on newly organized
civil society actors in Istanbul reacting to current trends in urban
development. In this climate local and national active civil society
groups emerge and struggle to find a common voice against the unjust
developments.